Sunday, July 20, 2014

"Going from Jimi Hendrix covers to traditional Scandinavian fiddle music
might seem like a giant leap of imagination, but it's exactly what the
Swedish duo of Harv has managed. Magnus Stinnerbom and Daniel
Sandén-Warg first played together in 1992, when they were 14, while
attending a high school for musicians in their hometown of Karlstad. In
Harv's very earliest incarnation, Stinnerbom played drums and
Sandén-Warg guitar, as they jammed on old Hendrix songs, aiming to be
rock stars. The idea of moving to traditional music came a year later.
Stinnerbom had grown up with the music, his father having been a fiddle
player with the seminal Swedish folk band Groupa, and when he finally
played some of the old sounds for his friend, Sandén-Warg was an instant
convert. However, it would still be a while before the pair appeared in
public. Their debut as Harv (which translates as "harrow") came in
1996, when they provided the music for a production of Hamlet by the
Västanå Theatre, and their eponymous first CD arrived a year later." (From the group's iTunes page)

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

"Heavyweights in the nordic folk music scene, Väsen are a Swedish group combining the talents of Olov Johansson (nyckelharpa), Mikael Marin (viola), Roger Tallroth (guitar) and André Ferrari (percussion). The band has also released a number of albums as a trio without Ferrari." (Last.fm)